Sentencing delayed in fatal DUI offender's case

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The sentencing of a man convicted of killing a pedestrian while drunk was delayed for a month.

Larry Lee Halverson, 61, who has eight prior convictions for driving under the influence and who served prison time in Nevada for the crime, is claiming his counsel was ineffective in his South Lake Tahoe trial.

Halverson was found guilty by a jury in the 2011 death of 51-year-old Patrick Purnell while Purnell was crossing Ski Run Boulevard. He faces 15 years to life in prison under “Courtney’s Law,” after being convicted of gross negligence vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in October, according to the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office.

Halverson was scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 9. That hearing was continued when Judge Steven Bailey could not attend because of a legal obligation to finish a continuous preliminary hearing in another case.

Halverson, who remains in custody, is requesting a new trial and alleging ineffective counsel against a public defender who represented him. On Friday, he was appointed a new attorney. Judge Bailey scheduled his next court hearing for Jan. 17.

Convicted of a second felony DUI in Douglas County in January 2009, he was sentenced to 2-6 years in prison. He was paroled by the Nevada Department of Corrections on July 29, 2010, after serving 18 months of his sentence. Halverson had been out of prison for just over a year when he struck and killed Purnell.